The ''KBS Song Festival'' () is an annual

South Korea South Korea, officially the Republic of Korea (ROK), is a country in East Asia. It constitutes the southern half of the Korea, Korean Peninsula and borders North Korea along the Korean Demilitarized Zone, with the Yellow Sea to the west and t ...

n music show that airs on the

Korean Broadcasting System The Korean Broadcasting System (KBS; ) is the public broadcasting, national broadcaster of South Korea. Founded in 1927, it is one of the leading South Korean television and radio broadcasters under the government of South Korea. The KBS ope ...

(KBS) at the end of every year. It first aired in 1965 as an awards show, but KBS discontinued the awards ceremony in 2006. It has continued since as a music festival without giving awards most years. However, awards were given in 2013.

History

Park Bo-gum and Seolhyun at 2016 KBS Song Festival

The program was first broadcast in 1965 by the

Tongyang Broadcasting Company Tongyang Broadcasting Company was a South Korean commercial television station which was merged by the government with KBS. It was owned by the Samsung Group founder Lee Byung-chul and was a sister company to the JoongAng Ilbo. History Early ...

(TBC), where it was known as the ''TBC Broadcast Music Awards'' (). Singer Choi Hee-Joon won the first award in 1965. Separate awards were then given for male and female artists from 1966 to 1986 In 1981, the South Korean government

forced ''Forced'' is a single-player and co-op action role-playing game developed by BetaDwarf, released in October 2013 for Windows, OS X and Linux through the Steam platform as well as Wii U. It is about gladiators fighting for their freedom in a fant ...

TBC to merge with the

(KBS). Following the merger, the program's name was changed to the ''KBS Music Awards'' (). It aired on

KBS1 KBS 1TV is a South Korean free-to-air television channel that launched on 31 December 1961 and is owned by Korean Broadcasting System. The channel offers more serious programming than its sister channel KBS2, and airs with no commercials. Hi ...

every year on 30 December until 1994, when the program moved to

KBS2 KBS 2TV is a South Korean free-to-air Free-to-air (FTA) services are television (TV) and radio services broadcast in unencrypted form, allowing any person with the appropriate receiving equipment to receive the signal and view or listen ...

. In 2005,

Kim Jong-kook Kim Jong-kook (; born April 25, 1976) is a South Korean singer, entertainer, and actor. Kim debuted as a member of South Korean duo Turbo in 1995. The duo was considered to be one of the most popular idols in that time and sold out millions of ...

became the last singer to win the KBS Music Award. In 2006, the program's name was changed to the ''KBS Song Festival'', and the network turned the program into a non-competitive music festival rather than an awards show. Between 2006 and 2016, the festival typically featured performances by 20 to 30

K-pop K-pop (; an abbreviation of "Korean popular music") is a form of popular music originating in South Korea. It emerged in the 1990s as a form of youth subculture, with Korean musicians taking influence from Western Electronic dance music, danc ...

groups and singers. However, in

2017 2017 was designated as the International Year of Sustainable Tourism for Development by the United Nations General Assembly. Events January * January 1 – Istanbul nightclub shooting: A gunman dressed as Santa Claus opens fire at the ...

, KBS scaled back the festival to include only eight groups, two singers, and contestants from the KBS2 reality show ''The Unit''. The event has always taken place at KBS Hall, with two exceptions. In 2015, the event was held in

Gocheok Sky Dome The Gocheok Sky Dome () is a domed baseball stadium in Gocheok-dong, Seoul, South Korea. It is the home ballpark of KBO club Kiwoom Heroes. The stadium is primarily used for baseball and has a capacity for 16,744 spectators for baseball games. T ...

and for the 2019 event, it was held in

KINTEX Korea International Exhibition Center (, commonly known as KINTEX) is a convention and exhibition center located in Ilsanseo-gu, Goyang, Gyeonggi Province, approximately from Seoul, South Korea. It comprises two exhibition centers, one of wh ...

. The

2018 KBS Song Festival The 2018 KBS Song Festival was the 9th edition of KBS Song Festival, held on December 28, 2018, broadcast live from KBS Hall by the Korean Broadcasting System The Korean Broadcasting System (KBS; ) is the public broadcasting, national broa ...

with the theme, "A Huge Fantastical Party", was held at the KBS Hall on 28 December 2018. In 2023, the usual Song Festival was replaced by "''

Music Bank ''Music Bank'' () is a South Korean music program which airs every Friday at 17:15 KST on KBS2. the show is also broadcast in more than a hundred countries through KBS World. Episodes are filmed at the KBS New Wing Open Hall in Yeouido-dong, Ye ...

'' Global Festival", with the event held in both

Saitama, Japan is the capital and largest city of Saitama Prefecture, Japan. Its area incorporates the former cities of Urawa, Ōmiya, Yono and Iwatsuki. It is a city designated by government ordinance. , the city had an estimated population of 1,324,854 ...

and Seoul, South Korea respectively.

Hosts

Award recipients

''TBC Broadcast Music Awards'' (1965–1980)

''KBS Music Awards'' (1981–2005)

''KBS Song Festival'' (Popular Song of the Year)

Performers

''KBS Song Festival'' (2006–present)

References

External links

*
2021 KBS Song Festival
on Daum {{South Korean Music Award Shows Music Awards Annual events in South Korea South Korea annual television specials Music festivals in South Korea